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(02-25-2020, 11:27 AM)GMDino Wrote: Some more of Trump's "best people" handling this.
This dude is complaining about paying for something? F’n socialist expecting everything for free!
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(02-25-2020, 12:34 PM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: This dude is complaining about paying for something? F’n socialist expecting everything for free!
Well, hold on to your hat...
Quote:A Miami man who flew to China worried he might have coronavirus. He may owe thousands.
Dr. Lee Norman, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, explains what Coronavirus is and said Kansas currently has no confirmed cases. The department is working with the CDC and other health agencies to learn more. BY SECRETARY OF THE KANSAS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT
After returning to Miami last month from a work trip in China, Osmel Martinez Azcue found himself in a frightening position: he was developing flu-like symptoms, just as coronavirus was ravaging the country he had visited.
Under normal circumstances, Azcue said he would have gone to CVS for over-the-counter medicine and fought the flu on his own, but this time was different. As health officials stressed preparedness and vigilance for the respiratory illness, Azcue felt it was his responsibility to his family and his community to get tested for novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19.
He went to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he said he was placed in a closed-off room. Nurses in protective white suits sprayed some kind of disinfectant smoke under the door before entering, Azcue said. Then hospital staff members told him he’d need a CT scan to screen for coronavirus, but Azcue said he asked for a flu test first.
Girl, 9, saved baby. Then dad’s girlfriend tried to kill her and her brother, cops say
“This will be out of my pocket,” Azcue, who has a very limited insurance plan, recalled saying. “Let’s start with the blood test, and if I test positive, just discharge me.”
Fortunately, that’s exactly what happened. He had the flu, not the deadly virus that has infected tens of thousands of people, mostly in China, and killed at least 2,239 as of Friday’s update by the World Health Organization.
But two weeks later, Azcue got unwelcome news in the form of a notice from his insurance company about a claim for $3,270.
In 2018, President Donald Trump’s administration rolled back Affordable Care Act regulations and allowed so-called “junk plans” in the market. Consumers mistakenly assume that the plans with lower monthly costs will be better than no insurance at all in case of a medical catastrophe, but often the plans aren’t very different from going without insurance altogether.
Hospital officials at Jackson told the Miami Herald that, based on his insurance, Azcue would only be responsible for $1,400 of that bill, but Azcue said he heard from his insurer that he would also have to provide additional documentation: three years of medical records to prove that the flu he got didn’t relate to a preexisting condition.
While Azcue’s experience shows the potential cost of testing for a disease that epidemiologists fear may develop into a public health crisis in the U.S., one insurance expert sees the episode as a cautionary tale about the potential risks associated with deregulation in the insurance market.
“When someone has flu-like symptoms, you want them to to seek medical care,” said Sabrina Corlette, a Georgetown University professor and co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms. “If they have one of these junk plans and they know they might be on the hook for more than they can afford to seek that care, a lot of them just won’t, and that is a public health concern.”
Azcue said he earns about $55,000 a year working for a medical device company that does not offer health insurance, but his insurance plan wasn’t always so narrow. Last year, Azcue said he was covered under an Affordable Care Act-compliant plan that cost him about $278 in monthly premiums.
Those premiums shot up to $400 a month when his full year salary kicked in, so he canceled his plan in November, he said. Azcue said he now pays $180 per month for the limited plan from National General Insurance.
The limited plan’s requirement to provide three years of medical records before coverage kicks in, Corlette said, is not uncommon. The professor said she’s seen it come up for conditions like cancers that were never diagnosed but might have been hinted at in doctors’ visits from years past.
“That’s the critical difference between [Affordable Care Act] plans and junk plans,” she said. “[Junk plans] will not cover preexisting conditions.”
A spokesperson for National General Insurance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jackson Health officials say that there are more bills for Azcue on the way, but it’s unclear what those will total, as they are going to be issued by the University of Miami Health System, or UHealth, for treatment provided by their staff physicians who work at Jackson.
Azcue said his experience underscores how the costs of healthcare in the U.S. could interfere with preventing public health crises.
“How can they expect normal citizens to contribute to eliminating the potential risk of person-to-person spread if hospitals are waiting to charge us $3,270 for a simple blood test and a nasal swab?” he said.
Plans that comply with the Affordable Care Act often have high deductibles, too, Corlette said, but are likely to provide more reimbursement than the more restricted plans. Plus, she added, those ACA plans are required to cover flu shots and other preventative care.
“The idea that [the insurer] would have to comb through three years of his records just to determine if the flu was a preexisting condition is just crazy,” Corlette said. “But that’s how most of these plans operate.”
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(02-25-2020, 03:00 PM)GMDino Wrote: Well, hold on to your hat...
Just another example of big corporations f'n over the middle class to increase profits. The flu is an infectious disease that doesn't have anything to do with the past three years of your medical history. That's just an extra hoop insurance companies make customers jump through to create another barrier to weasel out of paying the claim.
And even if the patient were more susceptible because they have asthma, they're on chemo for cancer, or had their spleen removed; their medical history still wouldn't matter because they would have to be exposed to the damn flu virus in order to get the flu. That guy got the flu because he was exposed to the flu virus, not because of his medical history. He got the flu because he has lungs and requires oxygen to live and he breathed the virus into his respiratory tract. That type of behavior from insurance companies should be outlawed. And hospitals or medical providers should be required to put the total cost of what a patient will owe in writing up front instead of practically being given carte blanche to charge damn near whatever they want.
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I hope everyone complaining about ‘socialized healthcare’ finds all their uninsured relatives infected first, so they can watch them waste away only to be infected themselves.
Honestly though. Were do for a good culling, and I’d like to see those with sub-optimal intellectual capacity go first.
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(02-25-2020, 04:39 PM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: Just another example of big corporations f'n over the middle class to increase profits. The flu is an infectious disease that doesn't have anything to do with the past three years of your medical history. That's just an extra hoop insurance companies make customers jump through to create another barrier to weasel out of paying the claim.
And even if the patient were more susceptible because they have asthma, they're on chemo for cancer, or had their spleen removed; their medical history still wouldn't matter because they would have to be exposed to the damn flu virus in order to get the flu. That guy got the flu because he was exposed to the flu virus, not because of his medical history. He got the flu because he has lungs and requires oxygen to live and he breathed the virus into his respiratory tract. That type of behavior from insurance companies should be outlawed. And hospitals or medical providers should be required to put the total cost of what a patient will owe in writing up front instead of practically being given carte blanche to charge damn near whatever they want.
Do you remember how State Farm got away with pushing claims for Katrina by creatively reimagine the classification of flood damage? Those ***** corporate socialists are still in business.
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(02-25-2020, 11:27 AM)GMDino Wrote: Some more of Trump's "best people" handling this.
Cuccinelli is a shitty human being. He tried to enforce an old ban on gay and oral sex in Virginia.
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(02-26-2020, 10:04 AM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Cuccinelli is a shitty human being. He tried to enforce an old ban on gay and oral sex in Virginia.
How long until he gets pulled out of the closet then? Those are always the kind.
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(02-26-2020, 10:08 AM)GMDino Wrote: How long until he gets pulled out of the closet then? Those are always the kind.
I thought the whole situation where he wanted to cover the bare breast on the seal of the Commonwealth would do it, but nope. Hard to say.
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So is the virus the "extra"?
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(02-26-2020, 10:47 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: I thought the whole situation where he wanted to cover the bare breast on the seal of the Commonwealth would do it, but nope. Hard to say.
If banning blow jobs doesn't get you kicked out,nothing will.
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So now Pence, who blew the HIV response, is the head of the Coronavirus spread. But not REALLY just the guy who will work with the scientists and doctors and then report back to the Trump. Sometimes. Other times the other people will. And sometimes DJT will sit in on meetings.
But it is all completely under control and everything is the Democrats fault for asking why Trump cut funds and then didn't ask for more money to help.
Oh...and this:
Full disclosure: Personally I am not afraid and think America will be relatively OK. But I also have zero faith in the "leadership" in Washington to handle this on any level.
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Makes me wonder if Mr. Price Raiser himself will have his own company making the profit.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-administration-says-coronavirus-vaccine-may-not-be-affordable-2020-2?fbclid=IwAR2I2aB7QS9koeufeLs7toyHi0vxJqqVCTWYwoOgdNww9LPO49rs1EKfJng
Quote:The Trump administration says the coronavirus vaccine might not be affordable for all Americans
- Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday declined to promise that a coronavirus vaccine would be affordable for all Americans, sparking outrage from Democrats.
- "We would want to ensure that we work to make it affordable, but we can't control that price because we need the private sector to invest," Azar told members of Congress.
- On Monday, the president asked Congress for $2.5 billion in funding to fight the coronavirus — more than $1 billion of that funding will be designated for vaccine development.
- Democratic leadership criticized the president's request as "anemic" and inadequate.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday declined to promise that a coronavirus vaccine would be affordable for all Americans.
"We would want to ensure that we work to make it affordable, but we can't control that price because we need the private sector to invest," Azar told members of Congress during a hearing concerning the coronavirus outbreak and the administration's budget request. "Price controls won't get us there."
Quote:![[Image: 3UoFgT3v_normal.jpg]](https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1072902246424207360/3UoFgT3v_normal.jpg)
[/url]Michael McAuliff
@mmcauliff
· 21h
![[Image: 203c.png]](https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/203c.png)
Azar refuses to promise a coronavirus vaccine will be affordable for anyone:
"We would want to ensure that we work to make it affordable, but we can't control that price, because we need the private sector to invest.. Price controls won't get us there."
Quote:
Michael McAuliff
@mmcauliff
Here's the clip of Azar not assuring Rep. Schakowsky a covid-19 vaccine will be affordable to all.
![[Image: 1p0ljU57tH0lGHSN?format=jpg&name=small]](https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1232789236681773056/pu/img/1p0ljU57tH0lGHSN?format=jpg&name=small)
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5:08 PM - Feb 26, 2020
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NowThis
@nowthisnews
AZAR ON CORONAVIRUS: U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Robert Redfield of the CDC are among those testifying to the House Energy and Commerce Committee on the coronavirus outbreak
https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1zqKVlnWRAwJB …
![[Image: mx_ZqJ4v?format=jpg&name=600x314]](https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1233105446367637505/mx_ZqJ4v?format=jpg&name=600x314)
House Hears Testimony on Coronavirus
Nowthis @nowthisnews
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Democrats and other critics quickly condemned Azar.
"Secretary Azar is refusing to promise that a Coronavirus vaccine will be affordable to every American. Kick them out of office," Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, tweeted Wednesday evening.
The progressive group Center for American Progress tweeted, "This is a global health crisis, and everyone should have the right to medication that will help protect them from this virus."
While government and private researchers around the world are working quickly to develop a vaccine for the virus, it is estimated any vaccine is still several months away. The best preventative measure is regular thorough handwashing.
On Monday, the president asked Congress for $2.5 billion in funding to fight the coronavirus — more than $1 billion of that funding will be designated for vaccine development. Democratic leadership criticized the president's request as "anemic" and inadequate.
As of Wednesday, the US has confirmed 60 cases of the novel coronavirus that originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
The virus causes a disease known as COVID-19, which has killed nearly 2,800 people and infected more than 81,000 since December. The vast majority of cases and deaths have been in China.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed cases in six states: Arizona, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington, and Wisconsin. Officials have recorded two cases of human-to-human transmission among family members.
Please remember as your family members are suffering at least someone made a profit. 
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VP Mannequin Mike learned from his boss and only picks the BEST people. 
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Trump said there was less than a dozen cases in the US...headed toward zero.
The true number is now almost 60...and rising.
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(02-28-2020, 10:06 AM)GMDino Wrote: Trump said there was less than a dozen cases in the US...headed toward zero.
The true number is now almost 60...and rising.
He said two different numbers. He said 15 and he said fifty something. Not sure what the difference was.
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As a millennial who has lived through bird flu, swine flu, mad cow, Ebola, 12/20 and a few other things I'm sure I'm forgetting I'm pretty confident that this will end up being much to do about little. That said, as a parent of a <1 year old I am slightly more concerned as the extremely young and the extremely old are at the highest risk.
What I will say is that it sure has been f**king with my money over the past couple days, which I really dont appreciate.
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(02-28-2020, 11:36 AM)CKwi88 Wrote: As a millennial who has lived through bird flu, swine flu, mad cow, Ebola, 12/20 and a few other things I'm sure I'm forgetting I'm pretty confident that this will end up being much to do about little. That said, as a parent of a <1 year old I am slightly more concerned as the extremely young and the extremely old are at the highest risk.
What I will say is that it sure has been f**king with my money over the past couple days, which I really dont appreciate.
Buy low, brother.
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(02-28-2020, 11:38 AM)michaelsean Wrote: Buy low, brother.
My phone notifications have been a constant stream of "XXXX has reached a 52 week low". Shouldnt be a problem. 
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(02-28-2020, 11:58 AM)CKwi88 Wrote: My phone notifications have been a constant stream of "XXXX has reached a 52 week low". Shouldn't be a problem.
Everything we have is now in 401Ks so nothing I can do now. I used to have an IRA where I could play around some.
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(02-28-2020, 11:34 AM)michaelsean Wrote: He said two different numbers. He said 15 and he said fifty something. Not sure what the difference was.
Based on his usual lack of preparation he's probably just saying what he "heard". He's a idiot.
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